haha

there is something in the air in bangkok. I don't know what it is, but I know it is there. why, you ask?

..I used to leave a pair of rubber gloves out in my balcony all the time. you know, the orange ones you buy at big c to wear when you clean the dishes. anyway, I noticed that they would become brittle really fast. thought that maybe it was because they were of poor quality.

then, for really no reason, I started storing them in my room away from the outside air. ...it's been a year now, and I have yet to need to buy another pair of those rubber gloves.

something else I've noticed...

there is this toothpaste sold at the supermarkets. has a picture of a black person on the tube. don't recall the name. but everyone who has lived in bangkok long knows what I'm talking about.

anyway, I bought a tube of it to use once. I'm the kind of guy who likes to grind away with the toothbush so as to make a bunch of bubbles in my mouth with the toothpaste. when I did so with this new toothpaste, I would get blisters around the borders of my mouth if I didn't rinse the residue completely away after I finished brushing my teeth.

after that experience, I went back to colgate.

another thing...

be sure to clean the filters on your airconditioner every month. I've been in places where they are never cleaned. when you go to hotels, clean them before you sleep in the room.

...to the guy in the back no, I'm not anal.

when you buy an airconditioner here in bangkok, the new unit comes with a plastic fan component. but when people need to replace the fan component, they do so with a metal component.

since everybody is trying to save money, why do they use a metal fan component?

I always thought a plastic fan component would use less electricity. right?

across from my apartment building is another large apartment building. and get this, all the fan components are made of metal.

can you imagine all the electricity that would be saved if every airconditioner in bangkok had plastic fan components?

..just a thought.

5 stories...

1- I met this one guy who wanted to get married to a thai girl. his plan was to go to a university. locate where all the students studying to be doctors were. then, simply walk up and down that area until he found someone he was attracted to. when he found someone he liked, he would just go up to her, and ask her if she was interested in having lunch with him. simple as that.

after dating several girls, he found his soulmate. they are both now in california.

2- another guy I met also wanted to get married to a thai girl. his plan was to locate someone via ICQ. once he did that, he would communicate with her for a while. then, come to thailand to meet her. after communicating with this one girl for about 2 years, he married her.

she worked at a big insurance company here in bangkok. they are happily married and living in california.

3- met this japanese guy who spoke english. one of my first bangkok buddies. he fell in love with a gogo dancer. within a month, they got married. went back to japan. after 2 months, she went crazy, and cried like ######. didn't like japan. my japanese friend left his family business and returned to thailand to make her happy. within 1 year, had a baby boy. 4 years later, he needs a kidney transplant. he tells her that if he doesn't return to japan to get the operation there, he will die. she followed him back to japan with their son. this time, she was able to adapt. can now speak japanese. son is in school. true love.

4- during a wedding reception, I met this really rich thai guy. we started talking about marriage. I said it was hard to find someone to be your soulmate. he replied, no it isn't. I asked him how should I go about finding someone. he replied, do what I did. I said what did you do. he replied, go to central chidlom, and walk around the cosmetic section. when you see someone you like, just ask her to have lunch with you. and see how it turns out after that.

the guy has a beautiful wife with 2 beautiful children. nice guy.

5- another rich thai guy. he told me this story of how he got married. back in the 60's. he was studying english at AUA. found a teacher there he liked. dated her for a while until they got married. were married for over 40 years until he died.

after having been in thailand off and on for about 12 years, I have many stories. some good. some bad. these are 5 of my good stories.

moral of the story... there are good people everywhere. open your eyes. most of the people that you walk pass everyday are probably good decent people. or haven't you realized that yet?

I love to laugh.

did the "roots" routine, and went back to china to see where my ancestors came from. when I met the relatives, I asked them if there was any famous ancestors. he replied nope. all farmers. going back over 2000 years.

...was I disappointed. no. I think they did a pretty good job. ...I'm here.

life is great. life is grand. ..when you are in thailand.

Then don't buy. Simple as that.

Yes, the market here doesn't work like it does overseas. Yes, there are problems. Yes, be careful. I could be wrong, but I do believe there is a lot of sour grapes from folks who can't afford to buy a condo; maybe feathers get ruffled that BKK dares to have condos going for 4m THB plus when they are farang but only earn 30K per month? 

If there really was no demand from Thais (and not only hi so) for condos, then the city wouldn't be full of an ever-growing number of them. Over-supply in the short term, sure, but there is also a lot of real demand. Rising population, rising petrol prices, global property boom, low bank interest, better project quality and locations, more willigness to live alone...and large levels of inherited savings (usually land). Most Thai will sell of a portion of their family land assets to fund a purchase like this. Renting out may not be profitable for many units, but on a 20-30-year view one has to be really pessimistic to think it won't appreciate at least in line with inflation - which is more than bank interest rates have done here. Of course there are all kinds of better ways to invest - but you can't live in them in the meantime.

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I can buy a condo. but I won't because I believe there is a impending crash about to occur within the next couple of years. so, why buy now when I can buy later? wouldn't you agree?

if I was about to buy a condo in a city that I knew nothing about, I would really appreciate somebody giving me the scoop. wouldn't you?

take for example the property crash of 1997. prices for many units dropped at least 50%. if someone knew this, they could benefit from this information immensely.

I'm sure many people would welcome this knowledge.

the only people who I see who wouldn't like this information out is the condo developers or owners.

and evidently, you are one or the other, right?

the average daily salary for a thai person in bangkok is about 200 baht.  so, I'm wondering who is supposely buying all these condos?

I keep thinking these supposely sold out condo developments are a fabricated story just to get foreigners to buy.  (scam)

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You speak about the "minimum wage" ? It is not the average wage in BKK.

Like you, I sometimes wonder how the thais can buy houses at 6 millions, luxury cars etc....

2 thoughts :

- with european backgrounfd (i speak for myself) it is difficult for us to understand the HUGE difference in wage scale that exist in BKK. Because actually, in europe, if you win a lot, the State take a lot from you (taxes). In Thailand, people who are rich can be VERY rich.

-face : they buy with loans.... They will buy a super sexy and expensive new BMW with a loan on 5465654 years. Even if in the same time, they have to eat only rice (well...) to save costs.

Such behaviour is not as common in europe.

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no. I'm not talking about "minimum wage". my information comes from the bangkok post which is one of the local newspapers. the average daily salary in bangkok is about 189 baht. for outside of bangkok, it is about 139 baht.

it seems about once a year, the bangkok post will come out with these figures for people to read. sort of like what the time magazine does in regards to people in the united states.

since you don't know... let me educate you a little more. a person working at one of the fast food places like kfc, subway, mcdonalds, burger king, etc all make about 25 baht an hour.

maids make about 1500 to 5000 baht a month depending on whether they are live-in or parttime.

according to one issue of the bangkok post that I read, only about 20% of the people in thailand have a high school degree or above. the 80% who don't have a higher degree make from 3000 to 6000 baht a month. the 20% who do have a higher degree usually start working at salaries around 7k baht a month, and work their way up to the teens after a few years - if they are lucky.

teachers at public schools make about 5k to 7k a month.

I knew somebody who was offered a job at that university. they told him to come to the school to do an interview. so, we both boarded a bus to go there. spent our own money to get there with no promise of a job.

once there, he was offered a job on the spot. they promised him 2 support staff to help him set up the classes. so, he comes back to bangkok to do all the moving out stuff.

when he gets back up to chiang rai, and settles in, he finds out that the school folks backed out of their promise to provide him with 2 support staff. ..it doesn't stop there. then, they back down on what they promise to pay him.

you know, life is short. you don't need to make it shorter dealing with people like this.

people do change. this scenario happened to someone I know about 2 years ago. so, it's possible they have changed.

all I can say is - if someone promises you something, and then, they back down on the promise, leave - and don't bother saying goodbye. ..don't even expect to get your last paycheck. that's how bad it can get.

has anybody noticed the old abandoned condo sales office just off the ploenchit BTS? next to the home pro plus?

the story I heard regarding the place was that all these thai people put up money as deposits, and then, the developers skipped town. taking all the deposits with them.

the average daily salary for a thai person in bangkok is about 200 baht. so, I'm wondering who is supposely buying all these condos?

I keep thinking these supposely sold out condo developments are a fabricated story just to get foreigners to buy. (scam)

I had a friend who bought this one condo off sathorn. at the time when he bought, he was told that his unit was one of the last available. when I go to visit him, I always see a whole "section" (yes, section) of the complex empty.

are there laws against fraud here in thailand?

noticed a new sales office for a new condo development in pratunam district. went in to look at the model home, and get their brochure.

get this, the sales office just opened up, yet the sales rep I spoke to tells me that 60 percent of the complex is already sold out.

I asked her what the prices were. she replied from 4 million up. the studio unit goes for 4 million.

anyway, then, she tells me you have to wait 2.5 years before you can move in. that's the planned completion date.

then, I ask her what the deposit is. she replies 30% of the price of the condo.

reminds me of the scams going on back just before the crash of 1997.

what do you guys think? would any of you buy knowing the above information?

north beach pizza, top dog, taco bell, and the tv series, the enterprise.

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That wouldn't be Golden Boy pizza (Green St.), would it?

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there are many north beach pizzas in the bay area. the one I used to go to all the time is on grant and union. do a www.mapquest.com to get all the locations.

hmmm... green boy pizza must be a new place. I notice on mapquest that it is next to cafe trieste. ..I don't recall a green boy pizza around there back when I lived in the bay area.

my. how time flies.....

fishing? where? how to get there? public bus?

north beach pizza, top dog, taco bell, and the tv series, the enterprise.

I learned of this stuff a long time ago. here's a funny for you....

I told this guy about it. ..a couple of weeks later, he comes to me complaining that the people who make the stuff must be lying about the "opium". I asked him why he thought that?

he replied that he bought a few bottles of it, and drunk it all at one time. and that frankly, he didn't feel any high from the drinking the stuff.

I said to him, "you did what???"

and he casually repeated, "I drank 3 bottles of the stuff all at one time, and didn't feel a thing."

?

check out www.nomarriage.com

interesting reading....

my 2 cents....

I think thaksin is trying his best in a difficult situation.

the guy is trying...

..somebody mentioned that thaksin is a dictator.  ..my response to that is - I rather have him running the country than the drug dealers.

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Have you considered that he may have contributed to the problems.

So you actually appreciate that his family is getting richer.

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I know that before 1992, in thailand, every 4 years, the way regimes changed was via coups.

I also know from reading the newspapers that overall thailand is better now than before.

I know that drugs destroyed china in the early 20th century. so, I know that I wouldn't want the drug dealers in control anywhere in the world.

so, overall, I think thaksin has been good for the country.

now, if you ask me if he is perfect? well, I don't know. I know that I certainly am not. frankly, I have yet to meet a perfect person, or a perfect country. have you?

like everywhere, there are problems here. but just complaining is not going to fix problems. ..what do you suggest needs to be done to fix the problems?

constructive criticism is the road to solutions.

I think the key to many problems the world round is - education. ..which is something that does not happen overnight. we are looking at generations. with proper education, awareness is acquired. and hopefully, peace from within.

I believe that people in general are good. that most of the problems in this world are due to miscommunication, or misunderstandings. and that the internet is a valuable tool for peace.

naive? maybe. I hope not.

..just my 2 cents.

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Yes agreed people in generalare good but this guy is evil to the bone. He may not be a drug addict but he is shrewd. A wolf in sheeps clothing. He is a Hakka a chinese dialect group that is known for their shrewd business deals.

Anway this man is getting the religious thai people to embrace the wrong values i.e. money. He claims to be a staunch Buddhist, let me tell you that if you are a staunch Biddhist you cannot be a politician and practice the teachings of Buddha.

Yes he has cleared the streets of the drug lords but look at what he has done to the south, his hard handed ways has brought on only more deaths.

Let me remind you that this is the man who is bullying the civil servants, making them work long hours, and threatening them with pay and staff cuts. This is no way to treat the people who are managing the country. The consequences can be drastic.

my 4 cents worth.

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my 2 cents...

I believe the solution to the problems that civic servants are having can be summed up in one word - unions.

most rich people will never volunteer to share their wealth with poor people. that is the nature of rich people.

so, poor people need to form unions. the power of unions cannot be underestimated.

america went through a period of time during the early part of the 20th century where there was child labor, and unfair labor practices. the formation of unions helped to make things fair.

so, what can forming a union do in helping the civic servant get better pay, better living standards, you ask?

well, let's say company 1 has 10,000 people working for it. company 1 is treating it's employees like slaves. all a union needs to do to get company 1 to start paying better wages is to threaten to boycott the products produced by company 1, or better yet, one day the 10,000 people decide not to work.

if the people of the company don't work, the company doesn't make money. get it?

if the union of the people is strong, company 1 will decide to share it's wealth with them. otherwise, company 1 will go broke.

..and if there's one thing rich people can't stand, it's being broke.

in america, they have so many unions. if you interested in the subject, just do a google search.

my 2 cents....

I think thaksin is trying his best in a difficult situation.

the guy is trying...

..somebody mentioned that thaksin is a dictator.  ..my response to that is - I rather have him running the country than the drug dealers.

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Have you considered that he may have contributed to the problems.

So you actually appreciate that his family is getting richer.

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I know that before 1992, in thailand, every 4 years, the way regimes changed was via coups.

I also know from reading the newspapers that overall thailand is better now than before.

I know that drugs destroyed china in the early 20th century. so, I know that I wouldn't want the drug dealers in control anywhere in the world.

so, overall, I think thaksin has been good for the country.

now, if you ask me if he is perfect? well, I don't know. I know that I certainly am not. frankly, I have yet to meet a perfect person, or a perfect country. have you?

like everywhere, there are problems here. but just complaining is not going to fix problems. ..what do you suggest needs to be done to fix the problems?

constructive criticism is the road to solutions.

I think the key to many problems the world round is - education. ..which is something that does not happen overnight. we are looking at generations. with proper education, awareness is acquired. and hopefully, peace from within.

I believe that people in general are good. that most of the problems in this world are due to miscommunication, or misunderstandings. and that the internet is a valuable tool for peace.

naive? maybe. I hope not.

..just my 2 cents.

my 2 cents....

I think thaksin is trying his best in a difficult situation.

the guy is trying...

..somebody mentioned that thaksin is a dictator. ..my response to that is - I rather have him running the country than the drug dealers.

one of the things I studied in college was real estate. the 2 approaches to valuating property is the income approach, and the market approach.

the income approach is the old method which most people don't use anymore.

in the market approach, the value of a property is based on how much someone will pay for it. if even one person is willing to pay a certain price, then, that will be the going price.

most of the condos in bangkok are bought by foreigners. so, therefore, the price for these condos are based on what foreigners believe the price should be.

a few years ago, one of my friends bought a condo along sukhumvit. before he bought it, it was listed at 3 million baht. according to the agent, this was a good price. so, my friend bought it without even doing any research. ..he trusted the agent for whatever reason. later on, from other condo owners in the complex, he found out that the price he paid for the small one bedroom was the same price that 3 bedrooms were being sold at.

the word went around that my friend bought the place at 3 times the going rate. so, guess what happened? all the properties listed in the area were taken off the market for a month. evidently, all the real estate agents got together to reevaluate what the properties should be listed at.

...how do I know this, you ask? because another friend of mine was looking for a condo to buy at the same time. he was in the process of negotiating the price for a condo that he wanted to buy when all of a sudden, the agent he was working with told him that the seller decided to take the condo off the market.

later, the condo came back on the listing at a new higher price. ..true story.

get this, when my friend who bought the condo at 3 million baht found out that he overpaid the going rate at the time, he just shrugged it off saying it was a good deal. according to him, quote, "you'll never get a deal like this in the states."

moral of the story. value is a state of mind whether it be stocks, bonds, houses, and any other material thing - even money. if enough people BELIEVE something is worth a certain price, then, it is worth that price.

..supply and demand.

another story...

another friend of mine bought this condo in the sathorn district. he was told that his unit was one of the last ones available. so, naturally, being eager to buy, he bought it.

..later, he found out that a whole section of the condo complex he was in was vacant. more than 50+ units. my friend bought his unit over 4 years ago. and you know what? those 50+ units are still vacant.

right? wrong? ..let the buyer beware.

people, this is not america where there are laws against fraud, or title companies available to protect you from claims to your home. remember that.

not trying to scare anybody from buying here in thailand. frankly, the way things are going, prices will probably continue to rise because of the large demand from foreigners. so, if you are buying for an investment, you can't go wrong in buying - for now.

personally though, I would rather rent. to each their own.

I used to be a provide third level tech support on a contract basis back in the states. it's been about 7 years now. so this info is probably out of date. but I still use it. hehehe.

first off, have ready bootable floppies of msdos, and partiionmagic.

when I absolutely know that I want to start from scratch, I take my bootable floppy of msdos, and boot off of it. do FDISK /mbr. reboot again and do format using the dos format. (doesn't matter how you do it.) ..follow up with a scandisk, and a defrag.

then, I insert my partitionmagic, and boot off that. when partitionmagic is up, I format the harddrive to whichever scheme I desire whether it be NTFS, multiple partitions, etc...

I use this dual process because I found from experience that it will kill everything.

(I never did find a single software that did the job for me. ..but there is probably something out there that will do the job now. anybody want to clue me? thanks.)

some of the steps that I followed are redundant, but that's just the routine that I was used to.

there are many details you need to be aware of to use the above process properly. like selecting the proper segment sizes 512 vs.1024, etc.. ...otherwise, some operating systems won't work.

once I finish with the above dual process, I have a clean harddrive for installing software.

hopefully, your system came with a basic install of your operating system with all the appropriate drivers. otherwise, you should have all these drivers downloaded from the internet on some media besides the hard drive you are working on before you begin this whole process.

after all my software installs, I use ghost to make a backup copy to archive somewhere. restore is ok, but I found it doesn't always work.

for maintenance, I do a scandisk, and a defrag once a month using the appropriate utility for your config. for my system configuration, I use norton systemworks.

a warning. if you have never worked on harddrives before, there is a good chance that you WILL destroy the data on your harddrive playing around with this stuff. I did in the beginning. there is a learning curve.

Pattaya’s Immigration Department has received many complaints concerning foreign woman who appear to be selling themselves illegally on Walking Street.

now who would complain? Thais wouldnt bother, farangs wouldnt bother, so where did all these complaints come from?

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Can women sell themselves legally in Thailand?

My guess would be the Thai mafia!!

It will be taking profit away from their businesses.

Or some do-gooders farangs?

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my guess... it's the thai girls making the complaints. it's a territorial thing.

So - why should the US be responsible for something that happened on the other side of the world? They aren't ruling it, right?

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If ANYONE, a private person, Institution or any Country at all, would have the knowledge that 'possibly' many thousands or hundreds of thousands COULD die, do you than have a MORAL responsibility to, at least, DO something and inform the Countries or Region?

YES OR NO?

LaoPo

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so, why didn't you DO something and inform everybody?

there are over 2 billion people on this planet, and many of them heard about the earthquake. people all over the world.

..why don't they sue the WORLD instead of just the US and Thailand?

seems like there is an hidden agenda playing out here. ...like maybe someone hates the usa. right?

I knew this guy who liked to talk about PS2s all the time. is that you, mr.H?

I know about the ratchaprarop apartments. good place. thought about living there once about a year ago. the balconies in some of the units are big enough for a bbq, and a couple of lounge chairs. I asked them if I could install a dedicated phone line, and they replied no. and that was end of story.

other than not allowing dedicated phone line, the only thing I didn't like about the place was that it is at the end of a long alley. the neighborhood is safe, but you had to walk about 2 blocks up this alley to get to the complex. they did have motorcycle taxis going up and down the alley. so, I guest you could go that route. never asked, but a one way trip via motorcycle is probably 5 baht.

somebody mentioned they allow adsl now? when did that happen?

check out www.curezone.com

http://www.health-truth.com/articles/parasites01.asp

...according to the above websites, itchy ears is one of the symptoms of having parasites in your body.

there are many reasons for itchy ears. besides the possibility of having worms in your body, you may just have an allergy to something.

doesn't hurt to make sure though.

..the other day, I bought some cauliflower at foodland. after cleaning it, and slicing it up, I popped it into the microwave for 5 minutes. when it was cooked, I took it out, and was getting ready to eat it. ..as I was about to ravish it, I noticed these small white things in the pot next to the cauliflower. ..guess what they were? small thin worms cooked by my microwave. evidently, they emerged from the cauliflower when I was nuking it - trying to escape the radiation.

.. scary, to say the least. ugh!!!! ..hope you are not reading this while eating dinner.